Love will Find The way

Chapter 34- Back to Square one

Manik's POV:

We have boarded the flight and I sat beside Aryaman. Nandini is sitting in my front seat. Navya and Cabir's seats are adjacent to each other. ''Excuse me, can I get my seat changed?'' Cabir asked the air hostess. Navya is on verge of tears. ''Yes, I would like to exchange my seat too'' Navya said. I offered to exchange the seat and Nandini gave her seat to Navya and sat beside me. ''Inn dono ka kya hoga?'' she asked me. ''I don't know, but main subah se tumse baat karne ki koshish kar raha hu'' I said. ''Even I'm trying to discuss something, why did you hid me in your cupboard?'' she asked. ''Because I don't want Aryaman to see us together'' I said obviously. ''What if he sees us?'' she asked. ''Hum dono ek hi room mein thhe, poore raat ek saath hai, what if Aryaman gets any wrong ideas!'' I said making sense. ''You are saying that he will get wrong ideas, then you are accepting that there is nothing between us. Yahi Aryaman ko explain kar lete'' she said. I don't want to argue anymore. ''Jab hum dono ke beech kuch nahi hai, hum ko kisi se darna nahi chahiye'' she said. ''Yes, I know but people believe what they see, they will not seek your explanation, you will never want to enter each one's life and explain everything. I don't want to explain anything to Aryaman about us'' I said. 

She did not ask anything after that. ''Waise bhi I'm sorry for last night, but mujhe tumse thank you bhi kehna tha, I slept for straight 6 hours'' I said excited. ''That is why I asked you to try'' she said casually. ''That's last night story, let me see what happens tonight'' I said hopefully. ''Follow the same formula, no negative thoughts'' she said. ''Last night we slept together but aaj raat tum nahi hogi na'' I said. ''Excuse me'' she rolled her eyes. ''Firstly we did not sleep together''  she said. ''Wrong choice of words may be, but technically last night we both literally slept together on a bed'' I tried to explain that I'm not wrong. ''Kal raat kuch galat nahi hua but now you are making it sound like one'' she said. ''I hope you know what does sleeping together mean!'' she said. ''Itna tho mujhe kya kids ko bhi pata hai'' I said defending myself. 

''Can I ask you something?'' I asked her. ''Tab se tum wahi kar rahe ho'' she said. ''Ok sorry'' I said plugging in my air pods. She took them from me. ''You said you wanted to ask me something'' she said. ''But you were feeling irritated'' I said. ''Aisa nahi hai, ask me'' she said. I didn't know how to put my question in words. ''Are you?'' I hesitated to ask. ''Are you! What?'' she asked. ''Are you a Virgin?'' I asked finally. ''What?'' she was shell shocked after hearing me. I think aise pooch ke maine bahut badi galti kiya. ''I'm sorry, if you don't want to tell me, it's okay'' I said. She gave me a are you for real look and plugged in my airpods which she took from me. Mujhe aisa nahi poochna chahiye tha but I don't know what urged me to ask her. 

She did not speak to me for a long time and slept. We landed in Mumbai and I headed to my home. Now I can say Cabir and Navya are better communicators than me and Nandini. She seems to be super angry with me, usse hona bhi chahiye tha. Agar mujhe koi aise pooch lete main bhi aise hi react karta. ''Nandini'' I tried to stop her when she is near the parking lot but she ignored me. Damn I couldn't take her ignoring me. It feels like stabbing me with a knife. I never thought this trip would end on a bitter note like this, but I'm the one to blame. I went home and saw Mukti playing with her baby boy. ''Mom, Manik aa gaya'' she shouted to my mom. ''Aa gaya'' mom came out to see me. ''Mom, I'm tired, let me take some rest'' I said and went straight to my room. I got ready after some time and came down. ''You wanted to take some rest, but where are you going now?'' mom asked me as she saw me going out. ''Shoot ke liye jaana hai'' I said. I did not wait for her and went out. I reached on set after about 20 minutes. I thought I would be the first one but I was late.

Navya, Cabir, Nandini and Aryaman were already there. ''I thought tum log aaj nahi aaoge, but you have came so early after landing'' I said to Aryaman. ''Mujhe Nandini ne call kiya yaha aane ko, mujhe laga ki tum usse bataya aane ke liye'' he said and I looked at her. ''Main bore ho rahi thi and I thought mujhe kuch scenes rehearse bhi karna hai tho'' Nandini said. She did not even look at me. Maine aisa kya kar liya! She is behaving as if I was wrong with her. ''Everyone are here for same reason Manik, kisi ko ghar jaane ki mood nahi hai'' Aryaman said. ''But this is going to last only a week'' Cabir said. ''One week kyu?'' Nandini asked. ''Shoot khatam ho jayega one week ke baad'' he said. Yes, how can I forget that shoot will end in a week. Shoot khatam hone ke baat sunkar sab disappointed hone lage. Navya and Cabir were looking at each other. Cabir can act like he is ignoring Navya but it isn't helping either of them. In reality, his focus is fixed on her and he can't be the way he used to be around her.

Apart from Navya, other assistant directors do not know what and how Cabir wanted his things. Not only Cabir, everyone realized how important Navya is to Cabir. ''What's wrong Cabir? I guess you're not focused today'' I never thought I would say this to Cabir. ''What's wrong ye mujhe nahi pata Manik, but what happened is known to everyone here'' he said. ''I know tumhare aur Navya ke beech differences hai, but I didn't expect this from you at least'' I know ye kisiko bhi affect hoga but I had to speak it out. ''I apologize for my mistake, aage se main dhyan rakhunga'' Cabir said. 

Usne keh tho liya but I know how difficult it will be for him and Navya too. I had to take some action against it. ''I can't believe I'm here for 3 months and I have to leave you all'' Aryaman said quite emotionally. ''Why don't you stay here until the movie releases'' I asked him. ''No, it will take some time, any way I will try to come by that time'' seems like he decided to go. I had my makeup done and I guess this would be my last scene with Aryaman. I will miss him so much. ''Ye Cabir aur Navya ke liye kuch karo mujhse ye dono ko aisa dekha nahi jaa raha hai'' Aryaman said and I think its high time I should do something. 

''Attention everyone, there is an announcement, in view of the peace on set, Navya will no longer be a part of our team. I'm sorry Navya'' I announced in front of everyone. I know Navya would be upset but ye zaruri hai. ''How can you do like that?'' Nandini was the first one to protest. I think I should not entertain her now, for now my priority is Cabir. I had to leave from there and went to my vanity van. Ab tho Nandini ya Navya pakka aa jayegi. In fact, I'm waiting for one of them to come. As expected, I think they are here. ''Cabir'' I said. Cabir coming to me is totally unexpected. ''Agar mere wajhe se Navya ko nikal diya tho please take back your decision Manik, I have nothing to do with her'' he said. ''I know you have nothing to do with her but I can see you are not focused because of her, so I took this decision'' I said firmly.

I turned down Cabir and he went off. I know ab iss waqt sab log mujhse naraz hai. Ye dono nahi aa rahe hai tho mujhe hi unke paas jaana hoga. I searched for Navya but she is no where to be seen. Nandini is with Aryaman. ''I asked you to take a decision, I didn't expect you to be such wild and ruthless, ab bechari Navya kaha jayegi'' Aryaman asked me. ''Why are you so stubborn to separate Navya and Cabir?'' it was Nandini's turn. ''Ho gaya tum logon ka, maine ye soch ke aisa kiya ki agar wo dono alag honge tabhi usko pata chalega that they will miss each other'' I said. ''Alag hona aur alag karna are two different things Manik. Tara aur Aryaman ko alag kiya gaya hai. Sid aur main alag hua hai. Hum ko ek chance mil sakta tha but Aryaman ko Tara kabhi nahi mili na'' she said to me. ''Nandini zaruri nahi ki teri baat sach hai na, let me try my way, anyways if they both are together, Cabir can't even concentrate on anything'' I said.

''Oh everything is about your cinema, your director and you are just concerned about yourself. Actually you are concerned is only your reputation, tum itna selfish kaise ban sakte?'' she asked me. Why does she always have to take wrong meaning of whatever I say. I know har kisi ko meri tarikhe acha nahi lagenge, but that doesn't give her a chance to blame me. ''Nandini, stop it. I don't have to explain anything to anyone'' I said strongly. ''You don't have to take everything in your hands then'' she said. What happened to Nandini? Why is she behaving like I'm the only one wrong here. Cabir isn't even able to see Navya's love for him. I'm just trying to make him realize how much they love each other.

''Anyway, according to agreement, I will pay you in full amount in a week and then you don't have to see all this'' I said.